


Meeting Tye

by Hikato_chan



Category: Blue Beetle (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: But He Gets Better, Gen, Generally, Hurt / Comfort, Jaime is a bit apathetic / depressed, Like, a day after, also, comfort fic i guess, except without the hurt, he will be though, it's just that somebody needs to focus on the fact that there is no way that he's okay, set after season two, the reach are assholes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 03:47:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18908917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hikato_chan/pseuds/Hikato_chan
Summary: Jaime is watching the stars, watching how the reach ship is escorted further and further. He's not okay.





	Meeting Tye

Jaime was sitting quietly on the roof of a building, looking into the stars. It wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but Jaime could still see the green lanterns accompanying the reach ship out of the system. It took them long since they were towing the ship behind them, but Jaime had been watching from the beginning and wasn’t ready to look away yet. It just didn’t feel like it was over yet, he still needed the visual confirmation. Seeing is believing, he guessed.

He didn’t turn when four familiar figures made their way from roof to roof into his direction. He had thought that the runaways would get to El Paso sooner or later, though he hadn’t expected them so soon. None the less, he kept on staring into the sky.

They were on the same roof as him now, having stopped and frozen at seeing his figure. He didn’t turn to see them, in fact he didn’t do anything. In the back of his head, the scarab was rattling on about their adrenaline levels and fight or flight reactions, irritated at the lack of action. In his own mind, Jaime admitted to himself that he would hardly blame them if they attacked him with the will to kill. He wouldn’t be angry with anyone trying to kill him.

He would deserve it, he knew, even though he tried not to focus on said thought.

Behind him, Tye started moving. Silent and cautious, he walked over, stopping next to him and sitting down. The other three didn’t move, though Jaime could tell that they had tensed further.

Jaime couldn’t bring himself to say something and Tye seemed to not know what to say. It was silent for a little while longer before Tye finally spoke up.

“Are you okay?”

His mind went blank at the question, half of his mind surprised at the question and the other confused. Was he alright?

“No.”

The answer came in a whisper. He doubted that he would ever be okay. Not after watching himself kill. Not after noticing Bart flinch even after he was off mode. Things were falling apart and Jaime wasn’t sure if he could piece it back together. He was still waiting for Tye to start screaming.

“It will be alright.” Tye whispered. Jaime wanted to believe it, he really did. But a part of his brain screamed that there was no way Tye was actually trying to comfort him. It had to be a trick. It was just that a larger part was just so tired. It was the part that said that it didn’t matter whether he was genuine or not. The part that was okay with dying if it meant that his mistakes were forgiven.

“Do you hate me?” Jaime whispered. He found that he didn’t really favor one answer over the other, just like he didn’t mind dying or being alive. He wondered how long the apathy would last.

His eyes still hadn’t left the sky. Just a few more minutes and the ship would be outside their sector.

“No.” Tye answered. He had had to breath in shakily before he could answer. Jaime tensed at the answer.

“Why?” He just needed to know. To silence the part that told him that his friend was lying to him. And as much as that part argued that it was human and understandable, he wanted to think the best of his friend.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Tye answered after a bout of silence. Jaime couldn’t agree.

“It was.” He answered almost immediately. “If I hadn’t trusted the wrong people, this wouldn’t have ever happened.” If he had trusted his partner, it wouldn’t have happened. He couldn’t help but feel guilty about that too. He just hadn’t realized how guilty he felt about it until he thought that.

Now that he had started talking, words were burning on his tongue. He both wanted to say them and never say them out loud. His voice dropped in volume.

“If I hadn’t made this mistake, some people would still be alive. The world wouldn’t have almost been destroyed. You wouldn’t have run the risk of getting captured. My team wouldn’t flinch at the sight of my armor. Bart wouldn’t get flashbacks again.”

That was just off top of his head. He tried desperately to not think about it. The reach ship finally left the sector and Jaime’s head slowly turned downwards.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Tye said again. “It was the reach who did this to you.” He paused for a second. “It isn’t wrong to trust people. You always see the best in people, there is nothing wrong with that.”

And Jaime really wanted to believe that. He wanted to think that there was nothing wrong in trusting people. He wanted to think that it wasn’t his fault but somebody else’s. But he was a hero, not a victim. He should have done more. He should have known better, been better.

But there were statistics running in his peripheral. Statistics describing what odds there was for him to have changed, statistics that included all the information that he had had back then, and anything he could have noticed that he hadn’t. It was Khaji’s way to make a point. They had been up against an entire race of people who had all the information while they had none. Jaime did the best he could.

He found himself believing it a bit more.

Jaime didn’t say more, nor did Tye. The silence wasn’t awkward, not for them at least. The three behind them still hadn’t moved, and in a way it was easy to pretend they weren’t even there. Khaji made sure that Jaime didn’t forget them though.

It was getting late, Jaime noted. He would need to leave soon if he wanted to be home before curfew. It was hilarious in a way. Missing curfew used to feel like the end of the world, now the thought was so normal it was funny. He still wouldn’t miss his curfew though, not when it would worry his mother. Then again, he had been out practically the entire day so he guessed that train left hours ago.

He wasn’t sure if he could act like everything was alright when he went to school tomorrow. He wasn’t exactly sure what qualified as normal anymore. His life hadn’t been normal since circa two years ago.

His eyes shifted to Tye, taking him in. He didn’t know what he was going to do now. Stay? Leave? Be a hero? Well that wasn’t so probable, not with Tye’s view on heroes. Tye’s eyes shifted to take him in too.

Jaime blinked.

“Since when are your eyes _blue_?” he accidently said out loud, blinking again at his slip up. Then, before Tye could answer, he reiterated. “Not that, uhm, blue isn’t a nice color- I mean- I just- uhm.”

Tye laughed. It was surprised and a bit louder than normally, but when he finally calmed and faced his friend there was a smile on his face. Jaime wasn’t quite aware of the embarrassed flush on his face, but Tye felt hyperaware of the fact that it made the previously stature-like boy look alive again. There was a small twinkle in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. It felt like everything would be alright again.

“There he is.” Tye said with a grin, and Jaime blinked again. Only to think that, yeah, this was as close that he had come to normal in a while. Maybe things would really be alright. But  he would need help for that.


End file.
